"Nebuchadnezzar", c 1805 by William Blake @ The Tate Museum.
The account of the pride-filled King Nebuchadnezzar, in the 4th chapter of Daniel.
Alas, my brokenness training continues.
This afternoon, I was listening to my iPod while working out. I decided to start listening to Dr. Charles Swindoll, who is doing a series on the book of Daniel.
His first topic was called Insomnia, Insanity, and Insight.
King Nebuchadnezzar was a sovereign king and possessed great riches. He had a dream:
"I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. “I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men."
Nebuchadnezzar was strutting around one day, telling himself how cool he was. Before he could finish his sentence, God turned him in a grass eating, mindless creature for seven years.
From King Nebuchadnezzar after regaining his sanity:
"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble."
God desires humble, broken men:
One by one God took them from me
All the things I valued most;
Until I was empty-handed,
Every glittering toy was lost.And I walked earth's highways,
Grieving, in my rags and poverty.
Until I heard His voice inviting,
"Lift those empty hands to Me!"Then I turned my hands to heaven,
And He filled them with His riches,
Until they could contain no more.And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind, and dull,
That God cannot pour His riches
Into hands already full.
Author unknown.
